Finding information in structured databases typically requires complex queries that are dependent on the underlying database schema and that must carefully manipulate user input. The inputs required are typically not compatible with the way the data is stored. This is because the same information can be expressed in different ways in different countries of the world. For example, the term “1,230” may seem like the number “one thousand two hundred thirty” to someone in the United States, but it looks like “one point twenty three” for some in Germany. This is particularly applicable to date fields, where the text “1/12/2010” may mean Jan. 12, 2010 in the United States but Dec. 1, 2010 in other countries of the world.
In addition, sometimes the information one is looking for is not exactly represented in the database. For example, a search for “1.23” may not find the number 1.232 stored in the database because of the nature of storage of numeric data, even though we may be interested in such a result. Further, traditional queries require the user to specify where the information is supposed to be found. For example, a person may wish to retrieve all results containing the number 1.23 even if she does not remember what column in the database that value can be found in.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.